Game systems in which plural game devices transmit and receive data through a network to play a multiple-player-participation type game are in widespread use. The above games progress by each participant playing the participant's own role. One type of the above game system is one in which, from among game devices that are participants of the same game, one game device serves as a parent node (server terminal), and the remaining game devices serve as child nodes (client terminals). In this game system, transmission and receipt of data is performed mainly between a parent node and a child node.
In this game system, the situations of a game are shared among participant game devices of the same game. The situations of a game that are shared are, for example, scores and a position of an object which a participant operates in an imaginary space. The situations of a game that are shared are usually decided by a parent node game device. Therefore, a response to an input instruction is quicker at a parent node than at a child node. For example, Published Japanese Translation No. 2000-511667 of the PCT International Publication proposes a technique in which, in a case of advancing a game in which there are plural types of roles for participants (for example, a main player and a minor player) is played, a game device that will function as a parent node is decided based on the type of the role, whereby the smooth advancing of the game is enabled. In this technique, the game device of a participant that will take a role (for example, the main player) required to respond to an input instruction the most expeditiously will serve as the parent node.
However, the desired effects of the technique of Published Japanese Translation No. 2000-511667 of the PCT International Publication are attainable only if this technique is applied to a game in which there are plural types of roles for participants. The effects cannot be attained if this technique is applied to other types of games. Furthermore, in this technique, from among participant game devices, two game devices that have a small transmission delay when direct communication therebetween is performed might be selected as child nodes, and a game device that has a large transmission delay when direct communication is performed with each of the other game devices might be selected as a parent node. In a case in which such a game device is selected as a parent node, a transmission delay will occur when the exchanging of data between a parent node and child nodes is mainly performed, and as a result, communication delay in advancing the game will increase. This will inhibit the smooth progress of a game and will lead to the degradation in the degree of reliability in advancing the game.